


Transported

by LadySlytherclaw



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Honors Student Reader, I Don't Even Know, Modern Girl in Middle Earth, Modern Reader in Middle Earth, Or should I say Modern Reader, Reader is a high schooler, originally going to be a one shot series, seems like it is turning into an actual series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28414524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySlytherclaw/pseuds/LadySlytherclaw
Summary: Y/N is a normal high schooler who is just trying to get through sophomore year without any real drama, however, she gets transported to Middle Earth where she must go on a quest to help save Erebor instead of actually doing her math homework on time.
Relationships: Thorin's Company & Reader
Comments: 18
Kudos: 27





	1. When they arrive in Middle Earth

The rain had begun pouring as soon as the school bell rang. As I ran to the bus stop, I realized that running would be completely useless as the bus was almost full. The campus people were standing right next to my friends so I wouldn’t be able to cut in. I grab the umbrella from the side pocket of my backpack as I start walking in the opposite direction, towards the secondary bus stop for the high school.  
  
Sophomore year was already off to a great start with my math teacher giving us both of the textbooks that we would need this year, one being the size of Gaston weighing about the same and the other being about the size of my head, and the English textbooks being handed out. If any of them got wet, it would probably muck up the pages of the book, causing me to have to spend time gently pulling apart the pages and spend more time doing the homework everyday. Also it would seriously weigh down the backpack.  
  
I finally manage to get to one of the bus stops, there was like 5, by 3:25, and spot a guy from my 6th period also waiting there. We start having the normal awkward conversation about the presentation that we have to do next week when the bus finally comes into view. We both hurry into the forming line and I manage to get on second. Thankfully, there were still seats available, since this was a public bus, and I sat next to an older man on the pullout seats. I shove my backpack, after grabbing a novel from it, under my seat so I don’t have to suffer under the glares of one of the kids from school. Somehow, the bus manages to not be that crowded, even though it was the first bus after school, so I didn’t have to deal with the usual crowding.  
  
I actually look at the cover to see that I grabbed The Hobbit, one of my favorite books. The guy sitting next to me looks at the cover approvingly, as if the book I was reading decided my entire worth to him. Then I realize that I forgot my phone in my backpack and have to bend over awkwardly to grab the phone and tug along the portable battery and the headphones so I can listen to some music. After I come back into the seated position, the guy decides that this is a great time to talk to me, the random teenager sitting next to him. “Nice book.”  
  
“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites.” It almost feels like I should rub the back of my neck like all of those awkward “teens” in the movies.  
  
“Is that the original version or the reprint?”  
  
“The reprint. It’s the only one you can get for a decent price nowadays. The original has become a vintage thing so…” Why am I so talkative? What has happened to me? Who speaks to strangers in more than 1 or 2 syllable answers anymore?  
  
I’m shocked out of my train of thought by him asking, “How would you like to live in Middle Earth?”  
  
What kind of question is that? And the way he phrased it was as if he could take me there. Unless a dimension hopping machine has been built, there’s no way. “It would be nice. Certainly more interesting than school. Why do you ask?”  
  
“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure.” What the. Aren’t those like the actual lines from the book?  
  
“Cool. However, I have a crap ton of homework due this week so I am currently unavailable. Plus, what would I even do on such an adventure, learn precalc while hanging off of a tree?”  
  
“You would learn much better skills than precalculus as well as talk to the characters.” Dammit. Now I actually want to go. However, my parents are actually going to kill me if I turn in any of this homework late.  
  
I try to look out the window to see if there is any way to escape this conversation before I agree because he continually brings up valid arguments. There are too many people to look through the window across from me therefore my stop must still be a long while away.  
  
I am debating whether or not to continue talking to him when he says, “The way there is with magic, magic can also be used to bring you back.” Wait a sec, he was just planning on letting me stay there for the rest of eternity, or the rest of my lifespan I guess. Why am I still talking to this guy? It’s clear he belongs in the loony bin.  
  
“That sounds great.” He looked almost offended, in the way that I had imagined Gandalf looking at Bilbo during the Good Morning scene. He harrumphed and slouched into his seat, as if saying how dare anyone try to brush him off.  
  
At the next stop, he got off, managing to maneuver past an entire group of high schoolers taking up the entire aisle. The closest person asked if they could sit down and the rest of the ride proceeded as normal.  
  
Finally, I see the stop before mine and begin to rifle through my backpack, looking for my keys and putting away my book. I find the old Iron Man keychain and gently tug it out of my backpack. I look up to see that the bus has begun stopping for my stop. Getting out, I scan the other students to see anyone that I recognize and realize that they had probably gotten on a different bus. I just run towards the apartment building, not bothering with the umbrella, and get to the garage entrance. Using the fob, I open the gate and get to the elevator. I head upstairs and to the apartment, to being able to relax for a little bit. The conversation with the man had had me tense for the entirety of the ride. At least once I get home, I’ll be able to curl up for a little bit and read in peace.  
  
Unlocking the door, I see that the TV was still on from when my dad was watching the news. I turn it off after plopping down onto the couch and dig through my backpack for my book. I start to open the book to the last page I read when I realize that there is a bright light emanating from the book. It quickly envelopes me, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets style.  
  
I blink my eyes repeatedly to try and regain some semblance of sight after being blinded by the book. My first thought is I wish it did that when I was trying to read at night. The next one is where the hell am I, as I was in front of a circular green door. Something in my brain was prodding me to go inside, where there was definitely a party going on. As I tried to stand, I hit my backpack, which wasn’t even that close to me when I was starting to read. I heft it over my shoulder and knock on the door.  
  
A short man with curly brown hair and no shoes comes to the door. “And who is this now?”  
  
I tell him my name and he looks confused, as if he was confused by my actions.  
  
“I am Bilbo Baggins. You are welcome to join the rest of your group at the dining room.” Bilbo Baggins? The main character of The Hobbit? I don’t recall today being an occasion on which my friends would be playing such a prank on me. It was still only November. I entered the home after a couple seconds of hesitation. I see the faces of 13 other people, including the man from the bus oddly enough. Except for the man on the bus, they are all the same height as Bilbo, which is making me more concerned for my sanity than anything else. They even look like the different characters. This was too elaborate for a prank and I have never slept on the bus home before; it was often too jerky to even stand calmly.  
  
“Who’s the lass?” One of them asks. I tell them my name, all of them having a similar reaction to Bilbo except for the bus dude.  
  
“She is the 15th member of this company.”  
  
“What the fuck?” That’s all I could say. My impressive high school vocabulary resulted in 3 words that offended everyone there except for rando from the bus.  
  
“You were informed that I was looking for someone to share in an adventure.”  
  
“I thought you were just quoting Gandalf. How the hell was I supposed to know?” The others seem to be weirded out by the fact that I am cursing every other sentence. When they get torn from their world and put into their favorite fictional world, I would like to see them be any less alarmed.  
  
“Well I am Gandalf, so I guess you could suppose that I was quoting my earlier conversation with Master Baggins.”  
  
“You cannot possibly be Gandalf. Gandalf does not exist. This is just some dream from a nap on the bus home. There is no possible way that you are Gandalf and that is Bilbo Baggins. No fucking way.” I could feel that I was working myself into a panic attack. I took deep breaths, hoping that would help the lack of sanity that I was currently feeling. The man steered me into a sitting room so I could have a little bit of privacy for this complete mental breakdown that I was experiencing.  
  
After what felt like half an hour, I managed to calm down and realize that I was still carrying the heaviest thing on Earth, also known as my backpack. I look around to see that the man is still there and a couple of the others are walking by with more food. “Are you really Gandalf?” I ask quietly.  
  
He nods. “I had not initially realized how much stress summoning you from your own world would cause you. I especially had not realized that this bag was that heavy. I tried to remove it, however, you were clutching on to the straps for a little while there.”  
  
“Are those the actual dwarves? Or dwarrow? Whatever they prefer.”  
  
“Yes, those are the actual dwarrow. Thorin has not yet arrived.”  
  
“So this is the movie timeline then.” He looked confused at my words, but brushed them off quickly, probably considering them a culture difference.  
  
“Would you like to meet the rest of the company? I am afraid that they are concerned about you.”  
  
“Why would they be ‘concerned’ about a teenager that they have never met? Especially one which looks quite odd.” I gestured to my clothing and backpack to really show off the weirdness.  
  
“You are a child. It may be an understatement to say that they have paternal instincts.”  
  
“Just give me a minute. I just need to chill out a bit.” He looked even more confused but he once again assumed that culture differences were the source.  
  
I grabbed my phone and a pair of headphones from my backpack. I opened the music app and clicked whatever I was listening to last. Someone New by Hozier began playing. It was surprisingly relaxing and I began to sink into the chair a little.  
  
After the song ended and my brain had some time to deal with the fact that I was now in Middle Earth, I got up and headed back to the room we were in earlier. The 12 dwarrow and the hobbit all looked up when I entered and almost immediately they asked if I was okay as well as why I was cursing so much. They also introduced each of them, as if I wouldn’t recognize each of them from both the movies and the descriptions in the book. I was debating whether or not to go into the whole backstory bit when someone knocked on the door.  
  
Gandalf gets up and answers it like in the movies. Thorin walks in, being his majestic self, takes one look at the table and the people around it, and immediately does a double take when he sees me. “Why is there a daughter of man here? I was assuming that the burglar was to be a hobbit.”  
  
“Our burglar will be Master Baggins whose house we are currently meeting in. Ms. Y/L/N is here because I have foreseen the need of a 15th member.”  
  
“Why must we require one so oddly dressed? Or so young?” He gestures towards my general appearance as he says this, as if everyone hadn’t seen the jeans and a t-shirt I wore to school.  
  
“I have no clue why I am here.” I shrugged. “I have class tomorrow and homework to get to, so Gandalf, if you could. Release me from my eternal bonds.” Everyone just looked at me weird when I said the last bit, however, most people didn’t recognize the reference in my world. I most definitely was not expecting the joke to work here.  
  
“It is not that simple. It took a great amount of power to bring you here in the first place. I will not be able to send you back until at least a month from now, if not longer.” He looked between me and Thorin as if to say, what can you do.  
  
“We will not be able to take a child of man along. There is far too much danger for any child to be brought along. Especially one that has no weapons training.”  
  
“Yep. He’s right. You gotta send me back, man.” I sat back in the chair, giving off the most California beach dude vibes possible. “I have no supplies and a journey like this will take months. My grades are going to suck by the time I get back. My parents are probably flipping out already.” It seemed that with each sentence that came out of my mouth, the company members got more and more confused. I had thought that the amount of slang that I had used was minimal. At least they weren’t outraged over me cursing again.  
  
“Judging by what I was able to understand, which granted was not a lot, you need to go back because of school and your parents.”  
  
“Got it in one, my dude.” Everyone just sighed at the sentence, all of them kind of tired of the weird slang that the 21st century had created.  
  
Balin decided this was a great time to interject and asked, “What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?”  
  
Thorin was the one to answer, saying, “Aye, envoys from all seven kingdoms.”  
  
“And what did the dwarrow of the Iron Hill say? Is Dain with us?” said Dwalin.  
  
“They will not come. They say this quest is ours, and ours alone.”  
  
“A quest. That sounds like fun. Also kinda sounds like the kinda thing that wouldn’t let me submit my precalc homework in on time.”  
  
“Excuse me Ms. Y/L/N, what is precalc?” asked Ori.  
  
“Precalculus.” They all looked the same amount of confused as prior to Ori’s question. “Give me a second. I need a visual to show the true horribleness of precalculus.” I walked to the sitting room in which I had left my backpack while the dwarrow were theorizing what could possibly be this mysterious thing. Hefting the backpack over my shoulder once more, I walked into the dining room where they were still talking animatedly. I dropped the backpack on the chair as quickly as possible because all of the textbooks in there were seriously heavy. They all looked over at the heavy thud.  
  
“What is in there, lass?” Bofur asked.  
  
“Textbooks mainly. A couple of notebooks. A gajillion pens and pencils. Far too many homework assignments.” I open up the bag to grab the thick yellow textbook whose front page proclaimed “Precalculus With Limits: A Graphing Approach” and was extremely battered from a decade of use. I plop it onto the table which almost causes all of the plates to jump off.  
  
“How heavy is that book?” one of them asked.  
  
“At least half of what I have to carry on a daily basis. It kills my shoulders.”  
  
“Only half? Are they trying to fit all of the knowledge in the world in your pack?”  
  
I start flipping through pages to find the page for homework I had quickly written on my hand. “I found it. Page 306.” I turn the book so that the others can see it. They looked shocked at what was on the page. It was just the logarithmic equations that we were learning in class.  
  
“Why are there numbers and letters?” Bilbo asks.  
  
“It is supposed to exercise your brain. However, whoever said that was a nutcase and I think it’s just to torture kids.”  
  
“How do you exercise your brain? The brain certainly isn’t a muscle that can be used for something such as fighting. Also what is a nutcase?” Kili asked.  
  
“They make you learn more and more difficult concepts in order to increase your intelligence. A nutcase is someone who’s gone cuckoo.” At the group's completely confused faces, I say, “A few bolts loose. The lights aren’t all on upstairs.” At their further confusion, I just blurt out, “An insane person?” hoping that they will at least recognize that.  
  
“That makes more sense. Onto the next order of business.” Gandalf starts.  
  
“What about my return trip? Is there any clear timeline other than at least a month for that? Because I am certain I don’t have a visa for Middle Earth or the necessary parental permissions.”  
  
“What do you mean you do not have the necessary parental permissions? Gandalf, did you not even ask if she was going to be able to come? Or even if she wanted to?” Thorin asked, astounded by the fact that Gandalf had basically up and kidnapped someone.  
  
“I did ask if she wanted to. She replied, ‘It would be nice. Certainly more interesting than school.’” Gandalf looked offended at the accusations being thrown at him, however, it wasn’t as if they were untrue.  
  
“How in the fuck does that mean I would very much like to go to Middle Earth right now?”  
  
“Language!” Gloin yelled. His fatherly instincts were probably kicking in right about now.  
  
“Well I may have assumed based off of the book and the picture on your tiny metal contraption.” He was referring to the wallpaper. The wallpaper I have not changed since I got my phone and had Keep Calm and Eat Second Breakfast written on it.  
  
“Well that doesn’t mean that I would like to raise hell by going on a journey with Thorin Oakenshield’s company. Simply means I like the series.”  
  
“What series?”  
  
“Oh shit. Do they know?” I asked Gandalf.  
  
“It is not widely known information. It is known only among a special few.”  
  
“Do you mean the Maiar? Because I am pretty sure that Tom Bombadil knows.”  
  
“And who, if I may ask, is Tom Bombadil and how does he affect this quest of ours?” Balin asked. His question brought me back to the awareness that we were talking about this in front of an audience who had very little clue what in the hell we were talking about at this point.  
  
“He doesn’t become relevant until 80 years from now. None of you ever interact with him.”  
  
“She is a seer. That is why you want her brought on this quest Gandalf.”  
  
“There are most definitely things I would like to prevent, however, I have no cell service and not a lotta stuff downloaded. That isn’t enough to keep what you would call today a somewhat hyperactive 15 year old.”  
  
“She’s 15! Gandalf, we cannot bring a child along with us, no matter how useful their skills may be. We must be able to focus on the problem at hand, getting into the mountain, not making sure she is safe.” Thorin looked like a parent scolding their child because they tried to bring home a stray dog.  
  
“Especially not if she has homework due tomorrow!” I interjected. The amount of homework that accumulates from honors classes can literally kill an orc. “The only training I really have is in coding, and judging by the tech, I won’t be of much use here.”  
  
“What is coding?” Ori asked.  
  
“It’s how you get certain items to do certain tasks in my world since we don’t really have magic.”  
  
“What do you mean my world?” Thorin turned towards Gandalf. “Did you take this child from a different world and drop her into this one without any prior preparation?”  
  
“Yes. However, the benefits are far greater than the risks if she is brought along with us. She knows more about the dangers of this quest than anyone else.”  
  
“I am not the most useful person you could have chosen to bring on this quest. I am certainly not the one that you should have chosen. I have to do college prep next year and I can’t do that if I am failing all of my fucking classes.” My volume was steadily increasing as I said this, the rage at being brought here at the most inopportune moment starting to cloud my mind. All of them looked confused at the last sentence, which probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone who hasn’t dealt with the ridiculous education system that is currently in place. “There are tests I need to study for, including, but not limited to, ones that decide my entire future.”  
  
“As I said previously, after the necessary amount of time to replenish my magic, I will be able to send you to the same time at which you left.”  
  
“That works for me I guess. What am I supposed to do with all the shit in my backpack?” They all looked astounded at the casual cursing, as if someone couldn’t curse unless they were mad.  
  
“You can leave it all here. As it is, you have no items that are necessary for this trip so you will only require the bag.” Gandalf answered. Bilbo looked offended at the casual storing of all of my stuff here but quickly schooled his face into something more presentable.  
  
“If you think I am leaving my phone, you’re crazy. However, almost everything is too heavy to carry and therefore can be left behind.”  
  
“Now that that is finally sorted out, we can get onto the next order of business.” Gandalf announced.  
  
I was tempted to pull Bilbo aside to ask where I could store this stuff, however, this scene has a major role to play in bringing out his Tookish side and convincing him to come along.  
  
After he passes out due to reading the contract, I try to gently nudge him awake for a minute. When that doesn’t work, I grab the precalc textbook from off of the table and drop it right next to his head, startling him awake. Everyone looks at us, wondering what the bang was and see the textbook.  
  
“Where can I put my stuff?” I ask Bilbo.  
  
“There’s a spare bedroom that you can store it in right down the hall.”  
  
I try to grab the precalc textbook but Kili gets there first. He looks shocked by the weight. “This is half of your normal load?”  
  
“Yeah. I need it for math classwork.” He then tosses it to Fili, who is also shocked by the weight.  
  
“Only half? How are you able to carry this much at such a young age? I thought that Men were much weaker than dwarrow.” Fili then tosses it to another member of the company, who then tosses it to another member, until it has made its way back to Kili.  
  
“If you guys stop tossing it around, I can give one of you the bag which I normally use.” Kili then hands it to me, however, I cannot tell if he actually wants to see how heavy the bag is or if he is just giving it back to me out of a sense of propriety. Either way, I shove the book back in, somehow not crushing any of the paper that I had hastily shoved in there earlier, and hand it to Kili, who almost immediately drops it.  
  
“What’s in here, a pile of rocks?”  
  
“Mainly books. A couple of snacks. 3 trillion pens. You know, the normal stuff.”  
  
He lifts it and then gives it to Fili. He looks just as shocked as Kili. “How long do you normally have to carry it around for again?”  
  
“Anywhere from a couple of minutes at a time to about half an hour.” They both look at each other like What the actual fuck. “There are kids who shove more books in there or even some completely unnecessary stuff. There’s also the kids who have to carry around an extra bag because of a sport.” Both of their jaws drop, as if a person couldn’t logically carry this much stuff at a time. I sense that they probably aren’t going to talk for a while, at least to me, so I pick up my backpack and head over to the room which Bilbo had pointed out earlier.  
  
I just dumped out everything in the bag onto the bed because there wasn’t anything really essential except for one of those crepe things from Costco and a pack of gum. I shoved my keys back into my bag because who knows if I’ll be able to come back here before Gandalf decides to send me back. However, if he doesn’t allow me to pick up my stuff before he sends me back I am going to have to pay some hefty fines.  
  
With just the snacks and the keys, I have plenty of space to shove some other stuff that would actually be necessary on this trip. I should take some pictures of the textbooks so that I can keep the knowledge in my brain and actually do well on the next test. With that settled, I opened the book to the chapter that we are currently working on and took pictures of all of the theory and a couple of the exercises so I can do some practice if I have any time. Accelerated math requires a constant upkeep of skills so I also grabbed the most empty notebook in the bag.  
  
As I do this, I hear humming coming from outside. It’s starting. I was very tempted to run out there for the perfect nerd moment, however, it seemed more likely that it would ruin the flow if they saw me run in. So instead, I heard the best song to ever come from a book being sung from the other room. Thankfully, the door was still open so I still got most of the effect.  
  
I came out a couple minutes after they finished singing and saw Bilbo signing the contract. Hopefully, this time he won’t be left behind the next morning. Balin was overseeing the signing and therefore was the one to spot me first. “Lass, here’s one for you.” He then proceeds to hand me a document that was somehow larger than Bilbo’s. “It’s longer because you are still a child, therefore there are more protection clauses and such.”  
  
I don’t even take the time to read over the full thing. I skim it like it was the new Apple terms and conditions and find where I need to sign my name.  
  
“That was quick. Are you sure you want to come lass?”  
  
“I know for a fact that it’ll be better than waiting around here for a year.”  
  
Bilbo looked up when I said a year. “What do you mean a year? I thought this was only going to be for a few months.”  
  
“Well, we have to get there by Durin’s Day and then there’s the trip coming back along with any possible delays that can take place. Therefore, it’ll be about a year before we can come back.”  
  
Balin looked at me weird when I said Durin’s Day. They hadn’t read the moon runes yet so that little tidbit hadn’t been revealed. Oh well, it isn’t like it was really forbidden knowledge.  
  
When I looked back around the room, I saw that everyone had begun bedding down for the night. “I’m going to go to the room where I stored my stuff and then sleep. Could someone wake me up before you head out?” I asked Balin.  
  
“Sure.”  
  
I moved all of the stuff off of the bed and onto the floor and promptly fell asleep. It seems that being transported to a new world did wonders for a decent sleep schedule.


	2. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of actually traveling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is much shorter than the first chapter but that's really because school is kinda being horrible right now with the amount of work that my teacher's have decided to dump on me so you get a rapidly written second chapter that may be edited in the future.

I woke up the next day to Balin gently shaking me. “Come on lass. Breakfast is about to start.”  
  
I get up as quickly as possible, the motions ingrained by years of not waking up early enough for school. My routine comes to a halt when I realize that I am not in my room, therefore, I have no other clothes except for the gym clothes I was bringing home. I was most definitely not wearing what was considered one of the smelliest things on Earth to breakfast with a bunch of people who barely knew me.  
  
“I have to go ask Gandalf if I can get some clothes,” I mumble, not being fully awake due to the lack of coffee.  
  
Balin walks out of the room, leaving me to look somewhat presentable to ask whether or not Gandalf if he had a plan for the basic necessities of a fifteen year old child.  
  
After running my fingers through my hair, I decided that I needed to venture out now or else all of the food will be gone. I walk out to see the sitting room completely empty and the dining area completely packed with both food and people. Bombur and Bilbo conspicuously missing. Walking into the kitchen, I see the both of them working at the stove with supplies mysteriously pulled out of nowhere.  
  
Bilbo spotted me lingering in the doorway and quickly shooed me back into the dining room. “Bombur and I can handle making breakfast. You can just go and eat.”  
  
“Is there any coffee?” I asked.  
  
“What is coffee?” Coffee wasn’t a thing in this world. My sanity and consciousness was going down the drain.  
  
I sank down in the closest empty chair, which was between Balin and Gloin, and grabbed a plate. Placing a little food on my plate, the dwarrow looked shocked at how much I was grabbing for myself and immediately tried to pile more food on top. “I literally cannot eat anymore,” I protest, still not completely awake.  
  
“A growing child should be eating at least 3 full meals per day,” Gloin said.  
  
“I have what you might call an unhealthy eating schedule due to school.” The dwarrow look at me weird, as if eating at weird times was completely unheard of here. “I rarely eat breakfasts during the week, eat lunch at noon, have a snack after school, which is around 4 maybe 4:30, and eat dinner.”  
  
There was awkward silence at this revelation so I just proceeded to eat whatever was currently on my plate. Conversation restarted after a couple minutes without the same vigor that it had previously.  
  
After finishing my food, I got up to go check that I packed everything that I could possibly need and would actually be useful. I realized that I just needed to add in a couple of items and I would be all set.  
  
I hefted the bag over my shoulder and made my way to Gandalf to ask for clothes. “So are there any ideas for my clothing situation? Because I don’t think I will really be fine here in one pair of skinny jeans and a hoodie.”  
  
“At the next town, we will be able to pick up some satisfactory clothing.”  
  
“Until then you want me to wander around in either these clothes or the smelliest clothes known to mankind.”  
  
Gandalf looked offended by how I was reacting to this news. “Well I would think that spending time in Middle Earth would be more important than worrying about your appearance.”  
  
“I am not worrying about my appearance. I just know how much running is involved and how much sweat teenagers regularly produce.” I raise my eyebrow in an effort to try and convince him to agree.  
  
“We may be able to take a bit longer in Bree in order to obtain some outfits,” he said reluctantly.  
  
“I am down for that. If any of them look at me weird, you get to go and deal with them.” Gandalf just had a look on his face like What did I get myself into.  
  
I walked back into the dining room to see the dwarrow finishing breakfast. Thankfully my chair was unoccupied so I sat back down to wait for them to finish. Balin turned to me and asked what the status was for my clothes.  
  
“Gandalf said we could take a short stop in Bree to get some decent clothes.” He nodded and turned back to his meal. My brain still wasn’t completely working as there was no caffeine kicking around in there. I tapped on his shoulder to ask, “Is there any coffee? In Middle Earth?”  
  
“What is coffee?” My suspicions were confirmed. There would be no caffeine on this journey.  
  
“Nevermind. It is just a drink from my world which I enjoy drinking.” My brain clearly still wasn’t working.  
  
He got back to breakfast quickly and was one of the last few people eating. When Bombur and Bilbo finished eating breakfast, almost everyone was done packing all of their stuff. Both of them started packing while everyone else was trying to figure out logistics with the ponies and the supplies.  
  
Bilbo asked if there was any space to keep supplies for food within my bag and I quickly affirmed his suspicions. While everyone else was packing, I left my bag with Bilbo so he could stuff it with non perishables so I could take a few more shots of the textbook.  
  
I had a feeling that log would be pretty boring soon so I took pics of the next few chapters as well, ending at the section about complex numbers in trig. I was not going to be able to understand that without my teacher explaining everything.  
  
I also took several pictures of the chem textbook, going only up to Stoichiometry given that there probably wouldn’t be enough time for studying while running for our lives, and the French textbook since I would probably forget the conjugations pretty quickly without some kind of review. After taking the last photo, my phone decided to alert me to the fact that the battery was at 20%. Thankfully, my mom had given me the solar powered battery so I didn’t have to worry about it running out anytime soon. Mirkwood would be the only real concern due to the darkness.  
  
I shoved my phone back into my pocket and headed outside to see almost everyone packed up and ready to go and waiting on Bombur and Bilbo to finish packing up whatever food we could use. I then headed to the kitchen to see my backpack about three-fourths full and as light as a feather when compared to the crapton of textbooks that I normally carried. There were probably more supplies that they would be able to put into there and I could certainly carry the weight when running. The loss of participation points due to being tardy was not to be taken lightly.  
  
I found them in the pantry, clearing out the last bits of food left in there. “There’s still room in here for you guys to put some more food.”  
  
Bilbo looked up and said, “I didn’t want to make the bag too heavy in case you would not be able to carry it.”  
  
“I am guessing you didn’t pick up my precalc textbook yesterday. Everything in here currently weighs less than that.” I handed my bag to Bombur who proceeded to open it up and shove in the last bits of food remaining.  
  
After he zipped it up, I grabbed it and threw it over my shoulder. The three of us went to the sitting room and saw everyone sitting down with their packs on the floor. “Finally!” exclaimed Gandalf. “I had half a mind to go in there to pull you away from the pantry.”  
  
The dwarrow grabbed their stuff and headed out of the Hobbit Hole. The 16 of us looked strange as there probably hadn’t been such a gathering of dwarrow, a wizard, and a child of Man in a hobbit hole in quite some time, if at all. Bilbo ran ahead of us and yelled, “I need to ask Hamfast Gamgee a favor before we leave!” as his reasoning.  
  
“He needs a house sitter,” I said. With the looks of confusion commencing once more, I said, “Someone to watch his stuff so that his relatives don’t come in and steal it. Specifically Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. Apparently, she tried to steal his antique spoons at a dinner party.” They had probably understood the concept by the end of the first sentence, however, it was better with a tiny info dump to assure them, cough cough Thorin cough cough, that he wasn’t just wasting their time.  
  
Since we were just walking out of the Shire, Bilbo was able to catch up to us quite easily. When we came to the southernmost gate of Hobbiton, we were finally able to see the ponies that had been procured for the company. There were no packs currently loaded onto them which explained the sheer amount that the dwarrow currently had on them.  
  
I was somewhat concerned about the pony which I would have to ride because it may not hold both my weight and the weight of the backpack. However, the amount of weapons that each dwarf had equipped probably doubled the weight of the backpack and they each had at least 1 additional pack so the ponies were hardier than I would have expected.  
  
After getting properly situated on the horse, I dig through my backpack in order to grab either my headphones or the charger. Whichever one I grabbed first would decide what I was doing for this stretch of the journey. Sadly I grabbed the phone charger first so I would be unable to block out the sound of other people.  
  
After plugging my phone in, I turned my attention to my travelling companions and found Fili and Kili near the middle of the pack. Those two were the one which I could definitely joke around with, therefore, they would be the first ones I would talk to.  
  
With this plan in mind, I successfully managed to pass the day of riding, first trying to actually get the pony to speed up, then trying to get it to slow down, and finally I was able to talk to the dwarrow without flying past them.  
  
As soon as I got off the horrendous animal which refused to listen to any command that I had given properly, I was sorely tempted to kiss the ground like people in the movies. The ground had never forsaken me, therefore, I should be thankful that it hadn’t done more than cause me to slip a few times. Thankfully, my backpack hadn’t decided to be a problem the entire day because it was still considerably lighter than it normally was with the thousands of textbooks that we were expected to carry from class to class.  
  
The dwarrow were getting the camp set up quickly while Bilbo and I looked at each other, wondering what exactly we were supposed to be doing. They all looked like they had everything handled and we decided to sit by the fire that they were starting up.

  



	3. The First Night of Traveling

I dug through my backpack in order to grab my fully charged phone. This was one of the calmer parts of the journey so I would be able to read through a few pages of the textbook in order to figure out what we were learning next. However, I refuse to do any practice problems from precalc because those were always ridiculously hard and I didn’t have to do them. Finally finding the charging wire, I tugged on it to expose my phone from the depths of my backpack. 

Bilbo was called away by one of the others so he could learn how to do some of the work when they were setting up. Since I wasn’t called, I decided to start reading through the last couple of log sections for math. 

They were pretty boring so my attention kept getting pulled by whatever the others were doing in the camp. It seemed that they were just about done but Fili and Kili were guarding the ponies for right now so the others were free to sit down around the fire. I was barely able to complete one section before they saw my phone. 

“What is that you’re holding?” Balin asked. 

I hadn’t realized I had gotten comfortable talking with him until I said, “My phone. It can’t really do much right now but I did get pictures of a few sections of the textbooks that I had on me so I wouldn’t forget everything that I was forced to learn this year.” He and a few of the other dwarrow nearby just looked confused at my statement. “It’s technology from my world.” That helped a bit but they still looked kind of confused.

“How does it work?”

“I honestly don’t know. We were given like the basic description in one of my classes but other than that you would probably have to ask someone who worked on designing it or building it.” Intro to computer science is not something that really helps in this type of situation but I would have to either bullshit my way through this conversation using my patented essay skills or use my extremely basic knowledge of tech to try and explain it to them. 

“There’s buttons and stuff which you use to make it work but there’s pressure sensors involved as well as a good amount of finagling to make it connect to the screen.” It was a decent mix of bullshit and actual facts so I thought I was able to get out of this conversation quickly. 

“What were you studying then, lass?” Bofur asked. Finally, an easy question. 

“One of the sections from my precalc textbook. The teacher was supposed to go over it in a couple days but since I am not going to school for a while, I thought I could just read ahead.” At this, they were quiet for a bit, almost certainly thinking of the heavy yellow textbook sitting in Bag End or of the fact that Gandalf just casually pulled me away from my studies. “Anyways, how long until we get to Bree? I need some new clothes because I have started to smell like shit.” 

“It’ll be either tomorrow or the day after,” Balin answered. 

Well that sounded great. I would probably have to change into my gym clothes before then because being forced to ride in the open sun and managing to not smell like the boys’ locker room was impossible. The only downside would be the fact that the gym clothes only smelled slightly better than the boys’ locker room as it was the last day of P.E. for that week when Gandalf decided that I should be the one to go on this adventure. These things had been through the weekly mile run with me. 

“Is there any place where I could get enough privacy to change? I really need to change into something else.” 

He led me over to an area with enough trees that you couldn’t really see anything from the camp and turned his back. I quickly changed into the gym clothes that honestly didn’t smell as bad as I remembered and tapped him on the shoulder. 

We headed back to the camp where everyone immediately stared at me. “What? These are my school gym clothes. I do not have anything else.”

“Well, we aren’t really accustomed to women showing their legs in public,” Balin explained. 

“I have had to wear these exact clothes since I was eleven or twelve. It’s part of the uniform.” 

“It doesn’t protect anything! Why were you supposed to wear it if it can’t protect you from anything?” Gloin exclaims.

“Sweat,” I shrug. “Also the most danger you’re in in gym class is breaking a bone or skinning your knee. Nothing really that bad.” 

“Then how can it smell that bad?”

“You try having to run a mile in under 10 minutes and 30 seconds and then tell me that you don’t smell,” I retort.

“Can you at least put something on top? You’re going to get cold,” Bilbo says. 

I grab the hoodie that also smells like the boys’ locker room and sit down next to him. Since we still have time before we can eat, I rifle through my clothes for my phone. 

Bilbo looks at me questioningly and I hold up my phone to him. “I have got to study while we travel because otherwise I am gonna lose my ability to keep up with my math class when I get back.” Technically, it was still a big If for whether or not I would be able to go back home, however, they probably don’t want to know about the various dangers we were all walking directly into as well as my lack of confidence in Gandalf’s ability to bring me back. 

“So how does that small device help you study?” he asked. 

“I have images of the pages of the textbooks that I need to keep reading through. With these images, I can just read through the lesson or chapter, depending on how much time I have of course, and also do some of the practice problems that are there in the book. I definitely would not have been able to carry all of my textbooks as well as the supplementary workbooks for the entire trip so I decided that this was far easier and didn’t require me breaking my back. I also have a novel in my bag so that my reading skills don’t completely go to the wayside.” 

He nodded so I immediately went back to reading through chapter 6 from the precalc textbook. Dinner had almost been made by that point so my focus was being pulled between the delicious smelling food and the book, however, the book was so dry that I decided it would be better if I just chatted with Bilbo. 

“So,” I start. There isn’t a book that explains how you start conversations in Middle Earth so I was left on my own normal conversation starters. “Thinking about anything interesting?” Great, teenage awkwardness time. 

"I cannot really think about anything other than have I made a mistake by coming on this trip," he said. 

"You haven't made a mistake. A mistake would have been not coming with us because that would have been to your detriment." As well as to the entirety of Middle Earth's detriment. "This adventure required a hobbit and Gandalf deemed you the best choice for this adventure, therefore, you must be the one who has the best ability to succeed." 

"There's a chance we may all die before we even get to the mountain." 

"But isn't that what makes it fun?" I asked. He thought about that for a few seconds, pondering whether or not his lack of thinking before he came on this adventure was really going to be something that helped him in the long run. "I know for a fact that you wouldn't be able to become friends with the different people in Arda without coming on this journey. You're going to become friends with people you wouldn't have met if you had decided to just stay in the Shire." 

There was also the fact that without him coming on this journey, Sauron probably would not be defeated so the need to keep him here with us was something that was giving me the weirdly motivating speech. 

"True." His pondering seemed to have come to an end. "I would likely never have become friends with you if Gandalf hadn't brought you here, therefore, there is a chance that I could become friends with the others." We were friends? I hadn't really thought of it that way because it was usually after weeks of deliberately interacting with other people that the friend title was really proposed. 

Until dinner was about to be served, Bilbo and I sat discussing the things that he was interested in such as gardening and cooking. He was astounded when I told him that I really only knew how to cook simple foods like mac and cheese and that I never really had the time to learn during the school year. "Well how would you be expected to survive when you're living by yourself?" 

"There are recipe books and easy to make foods that you have to just put in the oven and then you're done. So there isn't really a problem unless I crave something which is a family recipe. That I would have to ask someone how you need to make." 

"You do not have a family recipe book of some sort that gets passed down or even your parents teaching you how to make some of them?" he asked.

"Well, I just have so much school work during the school year and then my breaks are spent doing projects or studying for the next unit or chapter that I am really left with barely enough time to relax and just chill. So learning how to cook complicated dishes is really something which I have no time for because honors classes are so much fun." 

The sarcasm in the last bit isn't missed by Bilbo who then asks, "Then why do you do it?"

"It looks good on--" What am I supposed to call college apps? "--applications for higher education. Since those are a major focus for almost the entirety of our academic lives past the age of 10, you are forced to maintain the best grades possible in the highest levels of classes that you think you can do."

Thankfully, dinner was being given out so I didn't have to deal with more awkward questions that I didn't know how to answer about my own class choices. All of us ate pretty quickly without really talking because we still had the perishable food that was 100% better than the nonperishables. Everyone except those on first watch for that night got settled into their sleeping situations, which were basically a blanket burrito on the ground. With getting settled into the blanket, Bilbo seemed to forget the earlier topic as he had to try to get comfortable on the ground. 

The technique I was trying out for trying to stay comfortable was to just wedge most of it underneath me for more cushion between me and the ground. It wasn't very cold so with the light layers of blanket, it was still a decent temperature. I was still able to get to sleep easily, the day of travel taking its toll. The next couple days traveling to Bree were spent in a similar pattern, the only notable thing being the pain in my back after not properly putting the blanket down one night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys think I should make a Discord server for this? It's really fun talking to you guys in the comments.


End file.
